Mentor Graphics acquired Berkeley Design Automation this morning. The details of the deal were unannounced. This is a strong move by Mentor to challenge Cadence and Synopsys in the nanometer analog/mixed-signal market and nanometer memory characterization market, respectively. Mentor not only acquires the technology and… Read More





DAC: Automotive, IP and Security
DAC is in the first week of June in San Francisco as I’m sure you already know if you are reading this. Historically DAC has focused on electronic design automation (EDA) and embedded software and systems (ESS). This year there are three new areas: automotive, Intellectual Property (IP) and security.
Automotive
Ever increasing… Read More
SEMI Breakfast Forums: the Internet of Things
Coming up on April 10th is the SEMI Silicon Valley Breakfast Forum Internet of Things—Driving the Microelectronics Revolution. It runs from 7am to 10.45am and will be held at SEMI Headquarters which is at 3081 Zanker Road in San Jose.
Widespread adoption of the Internet of Things will take time, but the movement is advancing thanks… Read More
Evaluate MEMS Devices out-of-fab Before Fabrication
MEMS design and fabrication is highly complex in the sense that the fabrication process heavily depends on the design, unlike IC fabrication which has a standard set of processes. A slight change in MEMS design can alter its fabrication steps to a large extent. For example, setting device parameters such as capacitance or linear… Read More
ARM, Cadence and the Internet of Things
There is clearly a lot of hype about the Internet of Things (IoT) right now, but also it is clear that it will be a real market. In fact, it already is with various medical, fitness and home-appliance products already available. At CES in January, wearables was probably the biggest trend. That doesn’t always pan out (3D TV was… Read More
TLM Modeling Environment Goes Commercial
The most successful EDA companies typically choose a domain where they have deep knowledge, then serve a few leading-edge customers that are willing to work with a start-up in exchange for early access to that new technology. The theory is that if you can satisfy the leading-edge customer then you can also satisfy the rest of the … Read More
Handel Jones on FD-SOI vs FinFET
Handel Jones has a new white-paper out titled Why Migration to FD-SOI is a Better Approach Than Bulk CMOS and FinFETs at 20nm and 14/16nm for Price-Sensitive Markets. Handel has done an in-depth analysis of the wafer and die costs of the various approaches, bulk planar (what we have been doing up to now), FD-SOI and FinFET. The analysis… Read More
Sewn open: Arduino and soft electronics
As several other recent threads on SemiWiki have pointed out, the term “wearables” is a bit amorphous right now. The most recognizable wearable endeavors so far are the smartwatch and fitness band, but these are far from the only categories of interest.
There is another area of wearable wonder beginning to get attention: clothing,… Read More
Triple Patterning
As you can’t have failed to notice by now, 28nm is the last process node that does not require double patterning. At 20nm and below, at least some layers require double patterning. The tightest spacing is typically not the transistors but the local interconnect and, sometimes, metal 1.
In the litho world they call double patterning… Read More
Aldec the leader in DO254
I am convinced after studying out the matter, that Aldec is one of the leaders in DO254 certification. As you listen and read the news as I do about flight MA-370, you keep theorizing and wondering. This is a good time to introduce the reader to the seriousness of flight worthy electronics and the arduous process to achieve certification.… Read More
Rapidus, IBM, and the Billion-Dollar Silicon Sovereignty Bet